[DemocracyNet.eu-list] Reminder: Mark E. Warren in Zurich - Public lecture

[alice.el-wakil at uzh.ch]

Dear all,

A quick reminder that the public lecture "Democracy and the Corruption of Speech" by Prof. Mark E. Warren (University of British Columbia) will take place in a week, on Monday, December 9, 2019
from 12:15 to 13:45
in auditorium AFL-F-121 (Affolternstrasse 56, Oerlikon)

                  Abstract:  The language of corruption in democratic politics is pervasive—even in democracies regarded as relatively clean by global standards. Charges of “corruption” regularly appear in the media, while opinion surveys show that much of the public regards “politics” as “corrupt.” But because overt corruption is the exception rather than the rule in the developed democracies, we have treated such charges as indicators of citizen disaffection. Here I argue that we should take this discourse of corruption at face value: citizens believe politicians dissimulate, they are insincere, and they are disingenuous. Behind such charges, I suggest, is an everyday intuition into the centrality of promise and commitment in speech-based politics. It is common for this defining medium of democracy to be “corrupted”—in the literal sense that agents fail, often strategically and even deceptively, to follow through the commitments implied in language use. It follows that a key problem for democratic theory and practice is to find the mix of ethics, incentives, and institutions that protect this essential resource of democratic politics—speech-based commitment—from corruption. 
      

This event is open to all; no registration required. We hope to see many of you there!
You can find the flyer attached. Thank you for sharing this event with your colleagues and students.

Best regards,
Alice el-Wakil
Alice el-Wakil, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant
University of Zurich, Chair of Political Philosophy / Office ZOA 207 / Zollikerstr. 117 / CH-8008 Zurich
@: alice.el-wakil at uzh.ch / https://www.philosophie.uzh.ch/en/seminar/people/research/politics_cheneval/el-wakil.html

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